Update: Bissonnette and Oringer agreed to change the name of the restaurant to Faccia a Faccia.
When local chefs Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer went before the Boston Licensing Board for approval to open a new Italian place on Newbury Street called Faccia Brutta, which means "ugly face" in Italian, their attorney said they chose the name because they wanted to show that even though they were serious about their food, "they don't take themselves too seriously." Read more.
Did you vote for Biden in 2020? You might want to think twice before dining at Rabia's Dolce Fumo on Salem Street in the North End, because its owner hates you. Read more.
The Dig finds the lyrical side to the complaint by four North End restaurant owners over the fees they had to pay to use public sidewalks and streets for tables this year.
Four North End restaurant owners say the $7,500 fee they had to pay to extend their restaurants to the public sidewalk is just horribly unfair and so they filed a federal lawsuit against the city today. Read more.
The Boston Licensing Board today took no action on requests by the owners of Boston Chops on Washington Street in the South End to sell their liquor license to a proposed parmigiana-based restaurant in Copley Place - and to then transfer the liquor license from their closed Boston Chops on Temple Place downtown to the Washington Street restaurant - because of a lawsuit by their Temple Place landlord. Read more.
The owner of Antico Forno and Terramia, the owner of Vinoteca di Monica and a Boston police officer are seeking to join a lawsuit against Boston against the requirement for people to show proof of vaccination for most public indoor spaces that was lifted in February. Read more.
Nick Varano supporting the mayor's plan.
Mayor Wu today announced changes in the fee plan for North End dining: Restaurants can pay month by month to put tables on public sidewalks and parking spaces and small restaurants, restaurants without liquor licenses and those not on the main drags of Hanover and Salem streets can get "hardship" reductions in the fees that meant to pay for extra trash pickup and safety measures in the restaurant-dense neighborhood. Read more.
Flier slipped under wiper blades along Hanover today.
Kristina Rex posts a copy of a letter Mayor Wu sent to North End restaurant owners that says the proposed outdoor-dining fee is because the people who actually live in the North End are fed up with the disruptions caused by outdoor dining there and the money would try to make things a bit better for them.
But, Wu continues: Read more.
WCVB reports restaurant owners who got to use city sidewalks and parts of the street for outdoor dining during the pandemic are pushing back on the city's plans to charge them $7,500 to pay for special cleanup efforts and stuff needed in the restaurant-dense neighborhood, plus another few hundred a month to pay for parking for North End residents who lose on-street parking spaces. Restaurant owners in the rest of the city do not face similar charges.
Update: Appeals court dismisses suit.
The Davio's chain of Italian steakhouses says Covid-19 physically changed the air and surfaces in his restaurants in Massachusetts and other states and is suing the Strathmore Insurance Co. for refusing to cover claims related to Covid-19 losses at its Boston-area, Pennsylvania and New York outlets. Read more.
The Boston Sun reports on a "fast casual" Italian restaurant proposed for the Copley Place mall that specializes in chicken pahm.
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by Gaetano Mirisola to convert his closed restaurant at 200 L St. at East 8th St. into an apartment. Read more.
Former BTD commissioner and state highway administrator Tom Tinlin reports: Read more.
Brian Riccio forwards this shot of William Shatner after a meal at Rino's on Saratoga Street in East Boston last night. Looks like he enjoyed himself, even if they were out of Saurian brandy.
The Boston Licensing Board today gave restaurants in East Boston and on Beacon Hill permission to expand their beer and wine offerings to include liqueurs and the mixed drinks that can be made with them. Read more.
A North End resident who had been regular at Lucca, 226 Hanover St., will have to find some place else to get a late-night drink after repeatedly uttering racial epithets at two Black men who were also at the bar on June 11, the restaurant's lawyer told the Boston Licensing Board today. Read more.
Delisle at hearing.
The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to let former L'Espalier chiefs Matthew Dilisle and Peter McGough open a pasta-and-wine shop at 40 Main St. in Charlestown, where customers walking home from their jobs downtown could pick up some fresh pasta and pair it with what their attorney called "finer wines and more interesting beers." Read more.
The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by Giacomo's, 355 Hanover St., to add tables with a total of 20 more seats on the second floor, and by Forcella in North Square to expand into a neighboring space and add 12 seats. Read more.
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